The field of the present invention relates to checkout counters.
Checkout counters are ubiquitous in the retail environment. In a typical retail operation, a shopper gathers the items that she wants to buy and presents them at a checkout counter, a clerk then scans the items' bar codes and the point-of-sale (POS) system totals the shopper's bill. The clerk may also apply any promotional discounts to the bill such as by scanning discount coupons, and the shopper then tenders payment. In addition, at some stores, a bagger or the clerk may bag the items for the shopper.
In order to reduce operating expenses, some businesses have implemented self-checkout counters substituting for the clerk and the bagger. One concern with self-checkout systems, however, is security, i.e., to insure that all items are paid for and to verify that the item being taken out of the store is the same item that has been scanned and paid for. For example, some self-checkout counters have utilized an item's weight or height information to verify that the item being taken out of the store is the same item that the shopper has paid for. Specifically, the system database includes stored security characteristics such as weight or height associated with each item, and the checkout system measures the actual weight or height of the item during checkout. If the item's measured security characteristic matches with the item's security characteristic, the self-checkout system will allow the purchase of the item. Otherwise, the checkout system will disapprove the transaction.
Some systems, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,681,570 and 3,681,571, provide a tolerance range for comparing the measured and the security weight. If the measured weight agrees within the tolerance range, the system approves the item. Other systems, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,340,970, provide for a manual override wherein if the system disapproves an item, an operator such as a store attendant or manager can manually verify the item and allow the system to accept a new security characteristic corresponding to the then measured characteristic. The manual-override functionality helps account for weight changes, for example, due to free promotional items sometimes being packaged together with the purchased items.
Despite these functionalities, the current self-checkout system may still require a high degree of store employee or operator intervention. Because a machine lacks the judgment of a human being, these systems tend to be very rigid and inflexible. Hence a need exists for a system that provides more efficient throughput and retains adequate security.